Talk:Num Lock

Mouse symbol on NumLock?
Any explanation as to why some keyboards have a mouse symbol on the Num Lock now? -70.160.162.237 21:22, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
 * i believe windows can be configured to use NumLock as a toggle for "mouse keys", where the number pad can be used to move the mouse cursor around the screen. Bgruber 06:48, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Under Windows XP, pressing left shift, left alt and num lock simultaneously activates a keyboard mouse. The numeric keypad then acts as a mouse cursor interface: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 control the mouse cursor movement; 5 and "+" are the action keys. What action is done depends on the selection: "/" selects the left mouse button, "-" selects the right mouse button and "*" selects a combined "left mouse button - right mouse button" mode (left-right mouse buttons "pressed" in this order I guess). Pressing the "Num lock" button changes between "mouse mode" and "text cursor control mode". Pressing left shift, left alt and num lock simultaneously again deactivates the keyboard mouse, giving back the regular "number/operand mode" or "text cursor control mode", depending on "num lock" state.
 * I'm not sure if other operating systems or software use the shift-alt-numlock combination (or something similar) to active the keyboard mouse mode. But if any do, this fact may be noteworthy in the article. --Abdull 21:22, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

The Table
How about someone makes the table into more of a graphical one, instead of a mere list? Where the cells are arranged to represent the actual keys and whatnot. --21:58, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

BIOS "bug"
How about mentioning the "bug" in the IBM BIOS implementation of NumLock? If I recall correctly, on a system that's using IBM BIOS (eg DOS) pressing 5 with NumLock off still sends "5" to the system. The only way to prevent this is to check the keyboard scan code and NumLock status in your own Interrupt 09H handler (Windows provides a high-level interface for using scan codes). Zyxoas (talk to me - I'll listen) 08:27, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Zidane2k1's edit
I'm taking out these three paragraphs for the reasons indicated following them:


 * When a computer's operating system crashes or hangs the Num Lock key is usually the only key that responds to being pressed.

Generally on a PC running Windows, when the operating system hangs, none of the keyboard keys react, and the keyboard's LEDs won't even toggle, including the Num Lock.


 * The Num Lock key can be deactivated by a number of means. On a Macintosh, if Universal Access is set to enable "keyboard control of the mouse" then hitting the option key five times will disable the numlock key, since the keyboard is at that time being used to control the mouse pointer.  To regain control of the Num Lock key, it is necessary to again hit the option key five times.

I won't really consider this "disabling the Num Lock key," it's really just "using the Num Lock key to enable or disable a different feature."


 * On Windows the numlock key can also be deactivated, and reactivated using the F6 key or shift F6 I believe.

Nope, doesn't happen. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Zidane2k1 (talk • contribs).

What is this supposed to mean?
What is this supposed to mean:

"Num Lock is also used in standard BIOS for extra input."

Perhaps whoever wrote this meant something like the ALT-130 = é (etc.) feature, but phrased it extremely badly? Or the CTRL-NUM LOCK feature which is supposed to work like the PAUSE key (but does not work on my keyboard)?

195.35.160.133 (talk) 11:20, 21 April 2009 (UTC) Martin.

I just read this and have the same question. What does this sentence mean ? If nobody knows, it should be removed. (statements that made more sense were removed in the past). --Xerces8 (talk) 19:15, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

Disabling NumLock change?
Does anyone know a way to disable the NumLock? (note I am not saying "a way to toggle the state") As most (except most laptops) keyboards already have separate cursor/PgUp/Pg/dwn/Ins/Del/Home/end keys, the ability to make the numeric part to behave like them is not very useful and can be an annoyance (when some program or the user accidentally toggles the state). (also a support annoyance: User:"My keypad stopped working!" support:"Press NumLock" user:"Wow! It works again.") So is there a way to make the numeric keyboard to always work in numeric mode?

--Xerces8 (talk) 12:02, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

5 with Num lock off
What is a 'clear key'? I think 5 is just a functionless key with num lock off. Acloi (talk) 21:35, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Annoyance
Me thinks, its worth to mention an annoyance caused by BIOS which turned it ON at PC boot. This issue has been addressed multiple times
 * by the authors of numerous NUMLOCK.COM utilities (for using NUMLOCK OFF in AUTOEXEC.BAT)
 * then by Microsoft as MS-DOS 6.x was capable to turn in OFF by corresponding directive in CONFIG.SYS
 * and finally by BIOS vendors, in late 1990 they includen CMOS setup option to disable original PC behavior with NumLock on at boot. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.140.240.108 (talk) 15:57, 4 June 2012 (UTC)
 * No actual sane person, has ever been annoyed by numlock being turned on, by default. There is literally no point in even having numlock be off. (except on some, but not all, laptops)--98.128.229.118 (talk) 18:27, 11 May 2022 (UTC)

About this being a stub...
I don't see why this article is a stub, it does a good job at explaining and i suppose its should be a B or C class article instead. It has three paragraphs explaining its use and history and all that, along with a table explaining its effects and the IBM PC chart. It has uses and purposes and does well at them. Can anybody help out? I don't know how or if to change it though so I thought I'd say here.

BonnetteBotnet (talk) 19:05, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

Alternate key combination
Due to the degrading qualitiy of my notebook's keyboard, I'm using a seperate USB-connected keyboard for daily work. Sometimes, I manage to accidentally hit a Fn-Something combination which is considered equivalent to Num Lock. So far, I never found out the exact combination. The page's text also just says that there is one, but doesn't tell any details. Does anybody know it?

Luckily, I also have a real Num Lock key for switching off the respective mode. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.254.97.74 (talk) 18:14, 14 February 2020 (UTC)